Kigali, 4 November 2016
President Kagame today was the Guest of Honour at celebrations organized to mark 20 years of Unity Club existence. The celebrations which involved testimonies, entertainment and cake cutting were held at the Kigali Convention Center.
In his address, President Kagame thanked Unity Club for their work in sharing the truth of Rwanda’s history and for drawing lessons from the country’s past.
“We are here to remind each of the importance of unity, of recognizing each other’s humanity. We speak of unity because we as a country have known the consequences of division. What is the alternative to unity? If we choose to turn against each other, we are serving the interests of those who benefit from our self destruction. The alternative to unity is chaos, a nation destroyed by its own people.”
Talking about genocide survivors who at one time wondered why as victims of the tragedy, were asked to make sacrifices, President Kagame stated that this is because they were the only people with humanity to forgive.
“It is up to us to keep each other on the right track of being known for our accomplishments and not for our tragic past. The same Rwanda that went to the extreme of tragedy in 100 days has achieved the impossible in 20 years. Today we have seen that the same Rwanda that was capable of the worst is also capable of great achievements.”